Brooklyn Park Council Weighs Remote Meeting Policy
The Brooklyn Park City Council is considering a policy to limit the number of times council members can attend meetings remotely.
Council members weighed in on the issue at its July 8 meeting.
Under the proposed policy, council members could attend meetings remotely up to six times per calendar year and up to three times per calendar quarter. Council members have roughly 48 meetings a year on their schedule, which also includes work sessions and Economic Development Authority meetings.
Brooklyn Park City Council members who support the policy say it’s a way to reduce the burden on city staff. Others also say in-person meetings are an important function of being an elected official.
“When you go through the effort to get a number of people to sign their name on a petition so that you can get on the ballot, you are saying I have what it takes to attend the meetings and participate in the discussion that are required to create, carry out, implement city policy,” said Brooklyn Park City Council member Tony McGarvey. “That’s being an elected official. You have to be present to be an elected official. Obviously, not all the time. And this allows for that.”
Mayor Winston said he felt in-person meetings are more effective.
“If you’ve been tracking these meetings, they tend to go a lot smoother when we are all here in person. I prefer to have city councilors here because it’s much easier when you see folks, see the expressions. It’s better to hear, it’s better to point out details,” said Winston.
Council Member Boyd Morson said he didn’t see a need for the policy.
“I don’t get this. I think we got more pressing things than worrying about someone appearing via Zoom meeting,” said Morson at the July 8 meeting.
Morson said he felt the matter came up because of Council Member Maria Tran attending multiple meetings remotely after accusing Mayor Hollies Winston of bullying her last year.
Following those accusations, the council censured Tran this year for accusations of creating a hostile work environment for a city hall employee, a violation of the city’s Respectful Workplace Policy.
Tran agreed with Morson.
“Right now, I want to focus on something more important like CAC center, youth center, you know,” said Tran.
Attorney Jim Thomson said state lawmakers a few years ago amended a state statute for public body meetings involving elected officials. The statute allowed three exceptions for council members to attend remotely: 1) the council member had not attended remotely more than three times in a calendar year, 2) was serving in the military or at a required drill or 3) advised by a doctor to avoid public meetings for health reasons.
Otherwise, Thomson said, the remote meeting location for the elected official must be “open and accessible to the public.”
Thomson also noted there’s a different state statute for remote meetings during a pandemic.
In reviewing the exceptions of the state statute, Council Member Nichole Klonowski also felt there should be exceptions for child care, pointing out her experiences as a single mom.
The policy proposal was ultimately tabled to allow the council to further discuss possible exceptions at a future meeting.
